Mugello Moto3: Binder wins epic slipstream battle to stretch points lead

The 20-lap race saw the top-five finishers covered by less than a tenth of a second, as Binder prevailed over Fabio di Giannantonio by a mere 0.038s.

Having seized the advantage on the run down to the first corner at the start of the final lap, the South African just gave himself the margin he needed to protect his lead as Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo battled over second place.

"Today's race was crazy - I was in first, 10th, eighth; it was so difficult to plan," said Binder. "But I tried to keep back in the group so I could arrive on the final lap at least in the top three."

Both Bagnaia and Quartararo found themselves outdragged on the run to the finish by 17-year-old rookie di Giannantonio, who had scored no points prior to Mugello.

Mahindra rider Bagnaia hung for third, marking his third podium visit of the year, as Niccolo Antonelli pipped Quartararo for fourth place.

Completing in the top 10 were Hiroki Ono, Joan Mir, Niccolo Bulega, Juanfran Guevara and Andrea Migno, who had started second but couldn't sustain his early speed.

Fenati, Navarro in trouble

It was a disastrous race for Binder's chief championship adversaries, as Romano Fenati and Jorge Navarro both failed to make the finish. 

Poleman Fenati fell out of contention when his Sky Racing KTM suffered a mechanical problem at the halfway stage, the Italian having been in the thick of the lead fight up to that point.

A short time after, Navarro found himself in the gravel at the last corner after making contact with Guevara, while his Estrella Galicia Honda teammate Aron Canet also fell at the final turn on the last lap.

Earlier on the final tour, Argentina winner Khairul Idham Pawi crashed out of the leading group, having led a race for the first time since his Termas de Rio Hondo triumph early on.

Binder now leads the championship by 49 points from Navarro, with Fenati a further 11 back in third.

Race results:

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time
1	Brad Binder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	39:49.382
2	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	+0.038
3	Francesco Bagnaia	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	+0.069
4	Niccolo Antonelli	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	+0.075
5	Fabio Quartararo	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	+0.077
6	Hiroki Ono	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW	+1.037
7	Joan Mir	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	+1.532
8	Nicolo Bulega	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	+1.538
9	Juan Francisco Guevara	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	+1.567
10	Andrea Migno	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP	+1.762
11	Jules Danilo	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda NSF250RW	+1.791
12	Enea Bastianini	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda NSF250RW	+1.792
13	Gabriel Rodrigo	RBA Racing Team	KTM RC 250 GP	+1.933
14	Jorge Martin	ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3	Mahindra MGP30	+2.011
15	Lorenzo Dalla Porta	Schedl GP Racing	KTM RC 250 GP	+2.041
16	Livio Loi	RW Racing GP BV	Honda NSF250RW	+2.391
17	Jakub Kornfeil	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	+2.434
18	Bo Bendsneyder	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM RC 250 GP	+2.577
19	Tatsuki Suzuki	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30	+2.775
20	Karel Hanika	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30	+4.289
21	Maria Herrera	MH6 Team	KTM RC 250 GP	+4.916
22	Adam Norrodin	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda NSF250RW	+34.654
23	John McPhee	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30	+34.692
24	Stefano Valtulini	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	+34.739
25	Lorenzo Petrarca	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra MGP30	+42.628
R	Aron Canet	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW
R	Fabio Spiranelli	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra MGP30
R	Khairul Idham Pawi	Honda Team Asia	Honda NSF250RW
R	Andrea Locatelli	Leopard Racing	KTM RC 250 GP
R	Jorge Navarro	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda NSF250RW
R	Romano Fenati	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM RC 250 GP
R	Darryn Binder	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra MGP30
R	Alexis Masbou	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot MGP30